Archives for Events

Breaking news: Two acts added to Sunday’s Natatorium benefit lineup!

Palani Vaughan and the King’s Own and the Honolulu Lounge Lizards join the bill for Sunday’s “Stand Up for the Natatorium” benefit concert at The Shack Waikiki. Enjoy five great performances for just $20, and Stand Up for the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial! Palani Vaughan is a 2008 inductee into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame. He is best known for his albums with the King’s Own honoring King David Kalakaua and the music of Hawaii’s monarchy period. The Honolulu Lounge Lizards — DeWayne Valdez, Stan Combis and Larsen Abilla – play Hawaiian party music at its best. These new
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Categories: Events and Uncategorized.

Happy Birthday to Duke… and the Natatorium!

Today is the 120th birthday of the ultimate Hawai’i waterman, Duke Kahanamoku: Olympic swimming champion, surfer, diver, paddler and sailor. And it’s the 83rd birthday of the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial, inaugurated by Duke with a ceremonial first swim on Aug. 24, 1927, the day the champion turned 37. That ceremony kicked off the four-day AAU National Outdoor Swimming Championships, a meet studded with stars like Johnny Weissmuller, Buster Crabbe and Japan’s Katsuo “Flying Fish” Takaishi. According to a Honolulu Star-Bulletin account, “Opening night attracted 6,000 people. … The Natatorium was packed with spectators — as was every tree outside
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Categories: Events, History, and Uncategorized.

Get your tickets now! "Stand Up for the Natatorium" benefit concert Sunday, Aug. 29

Island sons Titus Kinimaka, Henry Kapono, and the show group A Touch of Gold headline our first “Stand Up for the Natatorium” benefit concert, Sunday, Aug. 29, 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. at The Shack Waikiki. Our performers are donating their time and talent to support restoration of Waikiki’s world-famous Natatorium War Memorial. Bring the whole family to enjoy great music, pupu and the company of fellow Natatorium supporters. It’s not just a concert; it’s also a birthday celebration. The about-to-turn 83 Natatorium shares its Aug. 24 birthday and swimming history with another ocean icon, the legendary Duke Kahanamoku. The
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Categories: Events and Uncategorized.

Save the date: "Stand Up for the Natatorium" benefit concert

When: Sunday, Aug. 29, 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Where: The Shack Waikiki In Honolulu at 2255 Kuhio Ave. What: “Stand Up for the Natatorium,”An OceanFest Wrap-up Benefit Bash for the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial Who: Performers confirmed so far include Henry Kapono and Titus Kinimaka & The Kauai Boys. More artists to be announced soon; check back here for updates. Why: To benefit the Friends of the Natatorium. To support the fight to remember, restore and renew the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium, the state’s living memorial to the 10,000 men and women from Hawaii who served in World War I. Great
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Categories: Events and Uncategorized.

July 8: After work with Friends of the Natatorium and HHF

Aloha! Please join us and our friends from the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation on Thursday, July 8, to learn about the most endangered historic sites in Hawai‘i and efforts to save them. That’s the date for Pau Hana with a Purpose, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. at the Design Within Reach Studio on the top level of Ala Moana Center (next to Nordstrom). This event is free and open to the public; no reservations are required. Wine and refreshments will be served. Meet some of us from the Friends of the Natatorium and from HHF, and talk also with the dedicated folks working
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Categories: Events and Uncategorized.

HPR reports on Memorial Day service at the Natatorium

Hawai’i Public Radio’s Adrienne LaFrance was on hand for Sunday’s 22nd annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Natatorium and filed a report that aired Monday and Tuesday. The story does a fine job of both capturing the spirit of the event and updating listeners on the natatorium issue. One excerpt from the story seems particularly worth thinking about. It quotes our keynote speaker at Sunday’s ceremony, Lieutenant General Benjamin Mixon, commanding general of the U.S. Army, Pacific. LaFrance observes that “veterans from World War I, the soldiers the memorial was built to honor, are no longer alive to see it.”
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Categories: Events, Memorial Day, News coverage, and Uncategorized.

Photos from the Natatorium's Memorial Day Service

Mahalo to everyone who joined us at the Natatorium on Sunday for our 22nd annual Memorial Day observance! It was a beautiful day and a memorable morning: thought-provoking addresses by our speakers, Lieutenant General Benjamin Mixon and Kim Napier; beautiful, meaningful vocal and hula performances; the inspirational participation of our military men and women and the King’s Guard; the presence of so many veterans. Here are just a few photographs from the ceremony. To see more on Flickr, click here. For a slideshow, click here. Another set of photos is available on Picasa here. A Picasa slideshow here. Thanks again!
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Categories: Events, Hula, Images, Memorial Day, Uncategorized, and Veterans.

Join us: Memorial observance at the Natatorium on Sunday

Please join us this Sunday morning, May 30, for the 22nd annual Memorial Service at the Waikiki Natatorium. We remember Hawai’i’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines with music, hula and oratory. And we do so at the place dedicated to their memory by the people of our state. A music and hula prelude starts at 9:30 a.m. and our moving formal ceremony begins at 10 a.m. This year’s theme is “Ku pa’a i ka ho’ihi, ka ho’omana’o, me ka ho’ala,” or “Committed to Respect, Remembrance and Renewal.” Our keynote speaker, representing veterans and active duty military personnel, will be Lieutenant
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Categories: Events, Hula, Memorial Day, Uncategorized, and Veterans.

Save the Date! Memorial Day Service on Sunday, May 30th

You are invited to the 22nd annual Memorial Day Service at one of Hawai’i’s most important monuments to America’s military heroes: The Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium. Mark your calendar: 10 a.m., Sunday, May 30 (the day before Memorial Day), in Kapiolani Park right outside the Natatorium’s gate. We gather there every year to commemorate Hawaii’s honored war dead in speech, ceremony, song and dance. We gather there because the Natatorium stands as a symbol of the freedom and of the American way of life preserved for us by the men and women who have fought in all our nation’s wars.
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Categories: Events, Memorial Day, and Uncategorized.

Hokule'a Crewman, Beachboy and Waterman: Clifford Ah Mow is Remembered at the Natatorium

Hundreds gathered at the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium Sunday to remember an icon: waterman, lifeguard and surfer Clifford Ah Mow. Ah Mow was one of the 17 original crewmen of the canoe Hokule’a; in 1976, they piloted the double-hulled craft from Hawai’I to Tahiti without modern instruments to demonstrate that Polynesians could indeed have navigated far and wide across the open Pacific long before the arrival of Europeans. It was a feat intended not only to support an important historical theory about the origins of the Polynesian people, but also to focus pride and revitalize Hawaiian culture. After remembrances at
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Categories: Events, History, News coverage, and Uncategorized.